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This task is always more pleasant when we have a good win to report on. As it turns out, the Sharks lose – embarrassingly – to the Cheetahs on Saturday and the ratings reflect a poor team effort, particularly on defence. While the four tries scored were lovely to watch, these ratings reflect the concession of 53 points.

1) Dale Chadwick. Chadders had the perfect opportunity to show up the highly-rated Coenie Oosthuizen and I’m sorry to say that he didn’t take it. While scrums were a mess the whole afternoon, Chadwick was penalised repeatedly for early engagement, while his loose play was typified by poor tackling and ill-discipline at the breakdown. We know he’s better than this and he needs to show that this weekend. 3/10
2) Craig Burden. Some sloppy lineouts aside, Burden was one of the few standouts in a thoroughly-beaten Sharks pack. 6/10
3) Eugene van Staden. Hugely impressive work with ball in hand, where he emerged as probably the most effective Sharks’ ball-carrier on the day. That said, a little more grunt-work wouldn’t have gone amiss on a day when the pack was playing second fiddle. 7/10
4) Anton Bresler. Worked hard as always, but tended to disappear along with the rest of the pack when it mattered. 4/10
5) Alistair Hargreaves. Did little to dispel the notion that he’s a bit of an expensive luxury in a tight physical contest. Hargreaves’ hands and ball skills remain exemplary, but the lack of grunt in comparison to Ross Skeate is noticeable. 4/10
6) Jacques Botes. Played his supporting role to good effect – and profited with two more tries that see him firmly entrenched as the Sharks’ top scorer for the season. That said, he remains something of a liability in the tight as he has neither the ground skills to be a fetcher, nor the bulk to contribute much on the counter ruck. 6/10
7) Jean Deysel. A quiet game in which his Cheetahs counterparts were allowed all the space and momentum. The Sharks needed Deysel to assert his physical presence at the breakdown and the tackle, yet his efforts were noticeable in neither area. Quite simply put, Ashley Johnson was rampant…. why could Deysel not stop him? 4/10
8) Keegan Daniel. Usually solid, his defence let him down far too often and against a big, aggressive loose trio, he too looked and expensive luxury. The combination with Botes once again was shown to lack too much in bulk in comparison to what the Cheetahs had to offer. 4/10

9) Conrad Hoffmann. Slow and indecisive in everything he did and on a day when there was little really good possession to work with, Hoffmann’s squandering off it was so much worse a crime. Cannot understand why Cronje wasn’t brought on sooner. 3/10
10) Fred Michalak. Did what he could with what he had and on the whole wasn’t terrible. That said, he was comprehensively shown up by a 20-year-old and as senior play maker in the squad, we need more from Fred when all around him are losing their heads. 5/10
11) Lwazi Mvovo. A good game and a massive improvement from last week’s shocker. Looked to attack whenever he could and did so to devastating effect. 7/10
12) Meyer Bosman. Not a bad game from Meyer, who again looked to cross the advantage line and keep continuity wherever possible. Seems to have improved a little in the vision stakes too and there were no intercepted offloads this week. 6/10
13) Marius Joubert. An improved showing, although still nowhere near what we need from him. Showed some nice touches on attack, with some quick hands evident in the Sharks’ first try. 6/10
14) Sbura Sithole. This kid is a talent and showed it, with plenty of physicality and aggression on attack and a high work rate to boot. Found wanting once or twice on defence, which was neither here nor there in the context of a poor team effort on defence. Watch Sithole – he’s one for the future. 7/10
15) Stefan Terblanche. As the elder statesman in the team, he really shouldn’t be missing tackles and fluffing touch kicks. Far too many errors to continue to excuse his lack of pace and real threat on attack. 4/10

16) Kyle Cooper. AGain only got a few minutes at the end, but showed that he felt he could claw back the 21-point deficit all on his own! A neat cameo by a strong player. 7/10
17) Julian Redelinghuys. Not on long enough to rate.
18) Jandre Marais. Was carded two minutes after coming on and cost his team badly – with 14 points conceded in his absence. Tried hard to make up for it afterwards but ultimately needs to shoulder the blame for a really silly high tackle. 2/10
19) Marcell Coetzee. Lacked the impact one would like to see from a lose forward substitute. 4/10
20) Ross Cronje. The speed of everything that the Sharks backs did rose by about 50% when Cronje came on. Silenced his detractors with yet another superb cameo. 7/10
21) Adrian Jacbos. Again tried manfully to spark things, but it was a case of too little, too late. 5/10
22) Louis Ludik. Did little wrong once he came on, but also enjoyed few opportunities to really make anything happen. 5/10

97 Comments

Is Keegan the right man for the captaincy job. He’s not the player he was last year.

Comment 1, posted at 19.09.11 10:08:12 by JarsonX

Why is the team still blowing hot and cold?

Comment 2, posted at 19.09.11 10:09:39 by JarsonX

One last thing, when the hell is our defence going to improve?

Comment 3, posted at 19.09.11 10:11:49 by JarsonX

I’d say cronje 9 out of 10 he did everything a scrumie should do and more,the backline looked better when he was on,another good performance and a big F-U to a lot of the bloggers here at SW who constantly under rate my fav player,but the team as a whole was garbage,kooper needs to start,so does cronje and adi,but as usaul mr plumtree is gonna back the wrong players again,sooo not watching this game and giving my tickets away bloody waste of time

@Poisy (Comment 4) : ummm… by admitting that Ross is your favourite player, you kind of negate your argument for giving him a 9

My method here was simple… the team got smacked by 50 points, hence nobody in the team got better than 7.

Comment 7, posted at 19.09.11 10:17:15 by robdylan

@JarsonX (Comment 1) : is plumtree the right person for the job,that’s what you should ask,we need a good plan for the future mj and bosman are not it,our young stars will leave and player for other unions bcz plum is as blind as a bat to who performs and doesn’t he should grow a pair and pick some of our juniors we can’t do any worse,and atleast he can justify not picking them in future shall they not perform but as it stands he has no excuse

Comment 8, posted at 19.09.11 10:17:41 by Poisy

@Richard Ferguson (Comment 6) : agree with you. Can’t turn around and abandon them now

I’m answering everyone in one go I’m using the mobile it takes long to reply to everyone ,first of all I’m not abandoning them I bought tickets and I’m giving them away to people who will support them without getting mad at plum ,time to cool off,this has been coming for awhile now he keeps picking players that are not performing,and as for cronje being my fav player call me being biased but everyone can see who is the better scrumhalf admit it or not he is way more consistant than any of our other scrumies,he needs to pick the under 21 fullbk rob and and the centre combination! And I’d hardly say coopr is being played he is picked but plays mostly 5minutes with the exception of last week and he did awesome,richards hasn’t played in awhile either,he needs to play them not just pick them dude,notice I’m not really dissing the team bcz a player plays to the best of his abilities good enough or not,but when they are not good enough PLUM needs to make the right calls! Its his coaching stuff I have an issue with not players,everyone has they favourites but when they are not performing its time to give someone else a shot fair enough?

Comment 11, posted at 19.09.11 10:35:33 by Poisy

@Poisy (Comment 8) : Tight Forwards where shocking which had an effect on the rest of the team ultimately! Hargreeegete type locks and two openside flanks, murder!!!

I thinks it time we recognise Cronje as our second choice scrummy .
I think its time to blood Jordaan .I think its time to blood lindeque.

Comment 12, posted at 19.09.11 10:37:05 by Talent

@Talent (Comment 12) : I agree with you but even if plum decides to pick them what are the odds they will get more than 5min ? The odds are higher that we will buy jaco pretorius(spelling)

Comment 13, posted at 19.09.11 10:45:25 by Poisy

My team for the next game if all are fit;
1.Chadwick-sub(60)Van Staden
2.Burden-sub(40)Cooper
3.Herbst
4.Marias
5.Skeate-sub(60)(Hargreeves)
6.Daniels
7.Deysel
8.Coetzee-sub(50)Botes@6 Daniels to 8
9.Mcleod-sub(60)cronje
10.Michalak-sub(50)/Jordaan
11.Mvovo
12.Bosman
13.Terblanche(50)Lindeque/Ludik off
14.Sithole
15.Ludik-sub(50)/Terblanche

@Poisy (Comment 8) : I don’t want to diss anyone person but rather the system as a whole. Somewhere something is not fireing as it should. And we all know that this team is better than they look right now.

Comment 15, posted at 19.09.11 10:49:05 by JarsonX

@Poisy (Comment 4) : Cronje doesn’t have a future with the Sharks. The sooner you realise that the better! Charl McLeod and Conrad Hoffman are better scrummies than him. Even though Hoffman had a awfull game on Saturday. And we have Cobus Reinach coming through the ranks who will over take Cronje skill wise once he gets a bit more experience.

@Ben (Comment 16) : I refuse to believe that! Cronje is better than all 3 ,mcleod has a quick pass but not so good at kicking,hoffman is slow off the ruck times but can kick and these two have got more game time for the senior team than cronje,but cronje has a quick pass,is quick and darts very nicely on the blindslide,breaks the advantage line,sees space and is a good kicker for polls and for gaining ground,chases hard his own up and unders 2

@Ben (Comment 22) : Perhaps you should address that question to the “commercial manager” who went out and overpaid for both Hoffman and JLP along with a few other classics like Bosman and Marius Joubert.

Hoffman was/is totally overated – as he showed again against OFS. Cronje, when he has been given gametime, has outperformed him all season.
I would not be surprised to see Cronje in another province’s colours next year and that will be a pity as he has come through the structures in Natal right from Grant Khomo in 2005, Craven week and Sharks U19 & 21.

He was outstanding for SA u20 at the world cup in Japan in 2009 as well. I like Cobus Reinach and think he is a good player but he is simply not in the same league as Cronje.

@steve (Comment 30) : Cobus is younger than Cronje. Give it some time..

Comment 33, posted at 19.09.11 11:52:37 by Ben

Before we go and make the u21s the senior side lets just think for a minute. Im all for playing a guy irrespective of age. If he is good enough he is old enough. So IF we had u21s that were setting the u21 competition alight then yes they should be given a chance in the senior side. BUT our u21s arent exactly on top of the u21 log are they? So what makes you think a guy that is good to decent is suddenly going to be amazing at senior level? Lambie was a standout performer in the Sharks u21 side that made the final that year…and how many senior caps did he get that year- one! Patience is a virtue!

Comment 34, posted at 19.09.11 11:54:40 by SheldonK

@Ben (Comment 32) : gOod team I’d agree with you everywhere the exception obvously being scrumhalf and the bench,drop stef and joubert bring in princloo(spelling) and jordan

Comment 35, posted at 19.09.11 11:55:36 by Poisy

I’m not saying the Cronje’s are completely useless. I’m saying with the quality of players we have in their positions there is no way they will stay. Except if some of our players leave. Plus I don’t think one of the Cronje twins will be able to step up to Super Rugby. What’s the name of the Number 9 that played for KZN in the Craven week? Ungerer or something? He’s also one for the future..

Comment 36, posted at 19.09.11 11:58:45 by Ben

Does anyone know which Boks aren’t coming back to the CC after the WC?

Comment 37, posted at 19.09.11 12:01:27 by klempie

This is the first game this season that I lost it…
Stef and Hoffman was terrible

@klempie (Comment 48) : So you are hoping the Boks get knocked out of the world cup in the quarters? Or Don’t even make it out of the group stages?

Comment 50, posted at 19.09.11 13:16:47 by Greg

@Greg (Comment 47) : I haven’t looked ahead at a roster since who knows when, but I get you. The Boks should be in the WC final

Comment 51, posted at 19.09.11 13:18:18 by JarsonX

@JarsonX (Comment 51) : That and the Lions winning the Currie Cup would definitely constitute first prize

Comment 52, posted at 19.09.11 13:29:04 by Greg

@Poisy (Comment 41) : I thought the way hoffman played before he got injured he is the answer… But now he just way off pace… Cronje looks a lot like Hougaard… Busy and energetic… So for now.. Cronje and then hoffman.. When Mcleod comes back his first choice..

Did we all score zero points in this round’s FL? Or did someone forget to update it?

Comment 60, posted at 19.09.11 15:38:27 by JarsonX

So I was at least half right about that Coenie vs Chadwick match-up

Comment 61, posted at 19.09.11 15:41:01 by hendrikp

@Zibbie (Comment 56) : Good for them and maybe good for Lionel. I won’t play for the Bulls even if they paid me

Comment 62, posted at 19.09.11 15:42:59 by JarsonX

@Salmonoid (Comment 58) : they’re ball watching too much, need to track the ball and make themselves available for overlaps when team has go forward ball. sbura’s defence is adequate – he makes a lot of his 1st time tackles but on saturday missed a couple.

mvovo’s positional play is what got him discarded by the boks, he pushes up too much and loses concentration as he doesn’t track back quickly enough when his team turns over the ball.

To be honest, besides Hougaard, every 9 in SA is decidedly average. Even Vermaak and Pretorius are overrated in my opinion. At his very best, McLeod does the job of 9 well, but not spectacularly. At his best his pass from the base is quick and snappy, but other than that, he is a below average kicker, and below average when trying to make darting runs. Yet, he was still selected for the Boks, deservedly so because all the other 9s in SA are also average.

Comment 84, posted at 19.09.11 18:05:06 by Dancing Bear

@Dancing Bear (Comment 84) : I hugely disagree. McLeod was way better than average last year for the Sharks. And that’s why he went to the EOYT. He was a vital part in the Sharks team that won the Currie Cup.

See it as a gearbox of a car. 1st gear is the forwards. They set the platform. 2nd gear is the scrummie. 3rd to 5th gear is the backline. Yes you can put your car straight into 3rd gear from 1st gear but your car won’t perform as well as when you use your 2nd gear.

Comment 85, posted at 19.09.11 18:31:56 by Ben

@Ben (Comment 85) : I understand your analogy Ben, but still disagree that McLeod was way better than average. Perhaps way better than the average SA scrummie, but he did little more than is expected of a decent scrummie.

Comment 86, posted at 19.09.11 18:45:45 by Dancing Bear

@Dancing Bear (Comment 86) : He did what was needed to match our “run it from everywhere” game plan. He was a team player and put the needs of the team ahead of those of his own. The exact opposite off what he has done in this season so far. Call it average but team players are much more valuable than the ones that spark a little something once in a while.

Comment 87, posted at 19.09.11 19:10:08 by Ben

@Ben (Comment 87) : I agree completely, he did exactly what was asked of him last season, nothing more. This season he has been selfish most of the time. This is why I say he did a good job last season, but not, in my opinion great.

Comment 88, posted at 19.09.11 19:22:17 by Dancing Bear

@Ben (Comment 87) : I would much rather have a team of average “team players” than a team of great individuals that seem to have no concept of how to be part of a team. Bissie’s petulant little outburst when he was replaced showed me that he is not a team player, which is why I think you will see Smit start every single match of importance during the RWC. Bissie may be better (in some people’s view) but he will never be the team player Smit is, which is also why he will likely never captain a team effectively.

@Dancing Bear (Comment 91) : Not my fault you are off the wrong opinion about Charl!

Comment 92, posted at 19.09.11 20:13:28 by Ben

@Ben (Comment 92) : Would still rather have the team player Charl from 2010 than any other scrummie in SA at this point in time.

Comment 93, posted at 19.09.11 20:15:21 by Dancing Bear

@Ben (Comment 92) : I still honestly think that SA has a problem at 9, there is not a single great 9 playing in SA at this time in my opinion. All are decent or even good scrummies, but none are great. There is no FdP (in his prime) or Joost playing in SA at this point in time

Comment 94, posted at 19.09.11 20:21:45 by Dancing Bear

@Dancing Bear (Comment 94) : Agree with that. Still say Charl was great last season but not this year. FdP is out of form and FAR from what he was in 2007! Vermaak and Sarel are solid but like you said, nothing special. Hougaard is playing too much rugby on the wing. Even though he is great on the wing I’m focusing on his scrummie abilities. Pienaar’s form is very dodgy as well.

Comment 95, posted at 19.09.11 20:30:10 by Ben

@Ben (Comment 95) : At this point, I would not even give Pienaar dodgy, he is just plain poor at this point in time. Hougaard has looked good at 9, but has also looked decidedly average at scrumhalf for the Boks. At this point in time, I think he offers more as an impact utility player than as a 9. But that being said, he is a true rugby player, and with some time to settle at 9, I think he could be great.

Maybe you youngster either not the talent to win at professional level (Jorrie Muller cases) or they need game time to show their worth possibly a season or two and not a Lambie / Jantjies / Goosen talent that can step up and be counted from the start…